According to the prior art, an automatic transmission comprises an electromechanical clutch control and an electromechanical transmission control as well as control electronics that are connected to the control electronics of the internal combustion engine of the vehicle, generally by means of a CAN bus.
Shifting systems of automatic transmissions have conventional and sometimes manually actuatable actuators comprising a start-up clutch between the drive motor and transmission, and actuators for selecting and shifting the individual gears, wherein the actuators are actuated by means of corresponding piston and cylinder arrangements that are generally hydraulically or pneumatically actuatable, or they are actuated by actuating elements designed as electrical actuators. An example of an automatic transmission is described in DE 102 30 612 A1.
With such transmissions, the necessary interruption of tractive force or the disconnection of the flow of force between the drive motor and transmission to shift gears has increasingly led to the desire to reduce the drop in tractive force during the gear shifting phase because of the lack of acceleration.
A drive device with a transmission, drive motor and shifting clutch is known from DE 10 2004 002 283 A1 according to which a shift/brake clutch is located between the engine and the separating clutch to reduce the tractive force interruption phase while switching in the drive device such that overlapping disengagement and engagement processes of the shifting brake clutch and the separating clutch support the engine torque on a transmission output shaft. This minimizes the duration of interrupted torque and reduces the drop in tractive force.